{"id":641347,"date":"2026-04-24T12:00:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T10:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=641347"},"modified":"2026-04-24T12:07:26","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T10:07:26","slug":"leroy-merlin-has-big-plans-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/business\/641347-leroy-merlin-has-big-plans-in-south-africa.html","title":{"rendered":"Leroy Merlin has big plans in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

French-headquartered home improvement and gardening retailer Leroy Merlin has ambitious expansion plans in South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leroy Merlin first established a local presence in South Africa in 2016, before rolling out its first physical store in Greenstone, Johannesburg, in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That was followed by a second outlet in Little Falls in 2019, a third store in Boksburg in 2020, and a fourth branch in Fourways in 2021. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Its two most recent additions \u2014 Centurion and Alberton \u2014 were launched in May 2025 and April 2026, respectively. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leroy Merlin South Africa CEO Frank Dufourq recently announced the company was planning to triple its store count in South Africa by 2030.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next store will be located in Durban and is planned for rollout by the end of 2026. The store is expected to cost R220 million, generate 2,500 construction jobs, and support 1,200 permanent jobs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leroy Merlin will be the anchor tenant in the broader Cornubia Business Park precinct, which is expected to generate over R2.5 billion in top-structure development value. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leroy Merlin expects it will support another 1,200 permanent jobs. The company is already looking for a head of department<\/a> for its KwaZulu-Natal business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next year, the company plans to launch another store in Cape Town. The retailer is renowned for its extensive product range, expansive and open store layouts, and friendly and efficient customer service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leroy Merlin’s main competition will be Massmart’s Builders Warehouse, South Africa’s largest DIY megastore chain, with over 100 outlets across the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Gauteng, Leroy Merlin also competes with family-owned business Chamberlains, which is generally more well-reviewed than Builders Warehouse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leroy Merlin has 103 years of experience in its favour. Founded by Adolphe Leroy and Rose Merlin in 1923, it was originally called Stock Am\u00e9ricain and began by selling American surplus goods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It gradually expanded into moderately priced DIY products and was rebranded to its current name in 1960. By the 1970s, it had expanded to 33 stores across France.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Strong business-to-business player<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Leroy Merlin Store<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Towards the end of the decade, intensified competition, surging land prices weighing on housing construction, and economic instability pushed Leroy Merlin into financial distress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Mulliez Family, a French industrial dynasty, acquired a stake in the company in 1979 and took over control in 1981.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1989, it took the retailer over French borders for the first time, with the rollout of a store in Spain. In 2026, the Mulliez Family owns or controls over 130 brands, including Auchan and Decathlon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of the family’s roughly 600,000 employees, Leroy Merlin accounts for about 160,000. These are working across hundreds of stores in 12 countries, including France, China, Spain, and Brazil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2025, the company reported \u20ac9.8 billion (R189.7 billion) in revenue. While only increasing 1.4% from the year before, it showed resilience amid a globally declining DIY market, which shrunk 3%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of its biggest growth areas has been in business-to-business, where revenues climbed 10% to \u20ac1.2 billion (R23.2 billion). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That growth came from local trades and small businesses selling on its online marketplace and its brick-and-mortar stores. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The South African business has also operated an online marketplace for several years, selling its own products and those of third-party sellers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking at the launch of its Alberton store, Dufourq said that Leroy Merlin had deep respect for South Africa, its people, and potential.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We understand that South Africa faces unique challenges like unemployment, inflation, energy, and water outages,” Dufourq said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He explained the brand would differentiate itself from local competitors with water and energy security products, heating and cooling solutions, and sustainable, affordable home renovations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

French-headquartered home improvement and gardening retailer Leroy Merlin has ambitious expansion plans in South Africa.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":341042,"featured_media":641498,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[5522,104657,40858,3354,104659,80555,81683,104658],"class_list":["post-641347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-builders-warehouse","tag-cornubia-business-park","tag-diy","tag-france","tag-frank-dufourq","tag-home-improvement","tag-leroy-merlin","tag-stock-americain"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641347"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/341042"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=641347"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641347\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":641978,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641347\/revisions\/641978"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/641498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=641347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=641347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=641347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}